Automatic fire-extinguisher



No. 610,376. Patented Sept. 6, 1398.

A. G. ANDERSON &. F-. MOHN. AUTOMATIC FIRE EXTINGUISHER.

(Application filed Oct. 14, 1897.)

(No Model.)

gnu" NE UNITED STATES PATENT ANTON G. ANDERSON AND FINN MOHN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

AUTOMATIC FIRE-EXTINGUISHERN SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 610,376, dated September 6, 1898.

Application filed October 14,1897. Serial No. 655,147. (time To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, ANTON G. A DERSO and FINN MOHN, citizens of the United States, residing at Chicago, Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fire- Extinguishers, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention has more particular reference to what may be termed stationary fireextinguishers arranged in buildings to automatically provide for the extinguishment of fires occurring in such buildings; and our invention consists in the features and details of construction hereinafter described and claimed.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is an end elevation of one of our improved fire-extinguishers.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same. Fig. 3

is a longitudinal section taken in the line 3 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is an'enlarged transverse section taken in the line4 of Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is a plan view of one of the main locking-plates hereinafter described. Fig. 6 is an enlarged vertical section taken in the line 6 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 7 is a side elevation of some supplementary locking-plates hereinafter described, and Fig. S is an' end viewof the lockingplates in their locked position.

In making our improved fire-extinguishers we run a system of pipes, of which A is a branch, through the house or building intended to be equipped with the same. This system of pipes is intended to be connected to and to have a communication with a Watersupply, so that the pipes may at the desired time be filled with water under pressure. This pressure may be obtained by a force-' pump, as in the case of a city water-main, or by gravity where the wat er-supply is sufficiently elevated to give a gravity-pressure.

In the various rooms of the building and at receive and contain thevarious parts which go to form the extinguishers proper. These sprinkler-heads are preferably made with arms 0, as shown in the drawings, at the end.

of which a sprinkler or distributor D is intended to be mounted. This distributer or To these consprinkler is made of a form that will enable it to be rotated when struck by a stream of water under pressure, so as to distribute the water in a shower on all sides. We prefer to mount this sprinkler as shown in Fig. 3, where it is represented as retained in place on the end of the arms 0 by a screw (1, passing down through a hole in the sprinkler through the end of the arms, which is also preferably provided with a rounded portion or center d to facilitate the rotation of the sprinkler on the same. The head of the screw is received into a recess in the top of the sprinkler so as to be countersunk, as shown in Fig. 3. To protect it from dust or other substances that might get in and interfere with the free rotation of thesprinkler, it is covered with a plate (1 preferably received into the extending head of the sprinkler. This plate or cover also prevents the screwfrom being tightened, loosened, or interfered with after the extinguisher is arranged in "place ready for its work. The sprinkler-head terminates in a nozzle D, over which a cap D? is intended to rest with an air-tight connection. Tomore securely make the connectionair-tight, we prefer to interpose between thefend of the nozzle and the cap a washer d of soft metal or other suitable material. The cap is also provided with a hole or orificeD for a purpose hereinafter explained.

In order to lock the cap in place on the nozzle, we employ a locking device formed of two main plates E and E, which are intended to be interposed betweenthe cap and the screw and to extend out at rightangles to together without lateral movement one on the I other by providing one of -them with teeth 6 which rest in depressions eiin the other plate, as shown in the drawings. One of the plates, as E, is provided with a recess in which is arranged a coil-spring E which eXa IOO erts its tension against the other plate, so as to tend to separate them from each other when not positively held together. The end of this spring preferably rests against a layer E of oil-paper or other suitable material interposed in a recess between the plates, as shown in Fig. 3, so that the spring will be protected from solder when used as hereinafter explained. The main locking-plate E is also preferably provided with lateral arms E whose ends approach the arms 0 of the extinguisher. The ends of these arms are preferably provided with recesses in which are arranged coil-springs e, that rest against and exert their tension against the arms 0 when the main locking-plates are in their locking position. The outer ends of the main lookingplates are intended to be soldered together between the layer of oil-paper and their outer extremity by some kind of solder which will melt at a low temperature in case of fire occurring in the room where they are or in near proximity to them, so as to release the outer ends of the locking-plates from each other. The soldering of the ends of the main lockingplates together may be sufficient to retain them in place; but we prefer also to use supplementary locking-plates F and F. (Shown in detail in Fig. 7.) To use these supplementary locking -plates, the main lockingplates, near their ends, are made inclined or beveled, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, and the supplementary locking-plates are pro vided with notches f and f, as shown in Fig. 7. These supplementary locking-plates are intended to be soldered together with the short sides of the notch arranged facing each other, as will be the case if the plate F be laid upon the plate F. The short side of the notch of one of the supplementary lockingplates will therefore fit against the incline or bevel near the end of one of the main locking-plates, and the short side of the other supplementary locking-plate will fit against the incline or bevel near the end of the other main locking-plate. These short sides of the notches are intended then to be soldered upon the inclined or beveled ends of the main locking-plates, as shown in Fig. 3. The main locking-plates extend beyond the incline orbevel near their ends and are provided with a notch f to receive the supplementary locking-plates between them, as shown in Figs. 3 and 5.. These notches serve to facilitate the soldering of the supplementary lockingplates in place and to retain them more securely in their desired position.

After the system has been arranged in a house or building and the fire-extinguishers mounted on their respective connections the air is drawn from the system of pipes, so as to create a vacuum in them. When a fire occurs and sufficient heat is produced in a room where one of the extinguishers is located, the solder holding the outer ends of the main locki ing-plates together will be melted, and where the supplementary locking-plates are also used the solder holding them in place'will be melted. VVhenthe parts are thus released, the spring E will be free to exert its pressure to separate the ends of the main lockingplates and permit them to drop out of position between the cap and the screw. Their removal is also further facilitated by the presence of the springs 6 located in the lateral arms of the main locking-plates E and which, as already explained, exert their tension against the arms a of the sprinkler head. When the locking-plates have dropped out of position, a small quantity of air will enter the system of pipes through the hole D in the cap. When suflicient air has entered to reduce the vacuum to the desired point, the valve shutting off the water-supply will open and permit a supply of water to rush in and till the pipes of the system. As this water rushes in it will force the small quantity of air that has come into the system out again and blow off the cap D from the end of the nozzle, which has been opened by the heat of the fire. The water will strike against the sprinkler or distributer D, which will begin to Whirl, so as to throw the water in a shower throughout the room where the fire may have occurred, and thus automatically extinguish the same.

What we regard as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In automatic fire-extinguishers,the combination of an extinguisher-head,a perforated main locking-plates interposed between the cap and the sprinkler and having their outer ends inclined or beveled, and notched supplementary locking-plates arranged on the outer ends of the main locking-plates, substantially as described.

2. In automatic fire-extinguishers,the combination of an extinguisher-head,a perforated cap closing the nozzle of the head, a sprinkler, a screw connecting the sprinkler with the head, and locking-plates interposed between the cap and the screw and closing the hole in the cap, substantially as described.

3. In automatic fire-extinguishers, the combination of an extinguisher-head, a cap closing the nozzle of the head, a sprinkler provided with a recess in its top, a screw connecting the sprinkler with the mama having its head countersunk in the recess in the sprinkler, means for closing the recess in the top of the sprinkler, andlocking-plates interposed between the cap and the screw, substantially as described. 4. In automatic fire-extinguishers, the combination of an extinguisher-head,a perforated cap closing the nozzle of the head, a sprinkler, a screw connecting the sprinkler with the ,head and provided with a notch in its inner fend, and locking-plates provided with centering-points interposed between the cap and the screw with one centering-point resting in the perforation of the cap and the other in the notch of the screw, substantially as described.

cap closing the nozzle of the head, a sprinkler,

5. In automatic fire-extinguishers, the combination of an extinguisher-head, a e forated cap closing the nozzle of the headfa sprinkler, and locking-plates interposed between the cap and the sprinkler and provided respectively with teeth and notches to prevent lateral movement of the one plate on the other, substantially as described.

6. In automatic fire-extinguishers, the combination of an extinguisher-head, a cap closing the nozzle'of the head, a sprinkler, main locking-plates interposed between the cap and the sprinkler and having their outer ends inclined or beveled, and notched supplementary locking-plates having one side of the notch shorter than the other and arranged on the outer ends of the main locking-plates with the short sides of the notches facing each other, substantially as described.

'7. In automatic fire-extinguishers, the combination of an extinguisher-head, a cap clos- ANTON G. ANDErisoN. FINN MOHN.

Witnesses THOMAS A. BANNING, EPHRAIM BANNING. 

